Hi, I'm new at this forum. I'm a fan of warzone ever since i played the demo (and the full version) when it first came out. I've been modeling in blender for a few years and when I read about this AR project I got quite interested, especially since there are already working export/import scripts for blender.

Anyway I remade the three cannon models complete with a 256x256 lightmap and normal map (lightmap is baked AO and can be used for further texturing)
colormap only

Thanks guys, made some colour textures in GIMP today
About the machinegun likeness, I also thought a bit about it, but I think the colouring solves that issue. After all, in reality the only difference between a light cannon and a heavy mg is the size
EDIT
to see the whole picture please right click and select view image
/EDIT

Now that you say it, it does look a bit soviet-like, it's propably mostly because of the colour
Anyway I modified the texture to make use of a teamcolour mask, and I also turned up the contrast and highlighted the edges in order to make the details visible when zoomed out as well.

Woah, those look very nice! Great work indeed pal, I'm glad to see a new willing & talented artist among us.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I must ask you how many triangles does your model have. As long as it has 100 +- 50 polys, it is really enough, more than that is over our limits for droid components. That is, if you make models for lancer, medium cannon, heavy mg and mortar, and the average of all those is within those limits I've mentioned, it's OK (since they are all the same tech level, you can analyze them like that if you want), but it's all better to aim for 100 triangles.

In the current stage of your work, It is already good-to-go for the final adjustments and texture finishing (usually I do this, but if you're up to it, feel free to have a go at it), if it is within the faces limit I've mentioned, if not, please try to reduce the number by merging some polys. Always remember of some crucial things, like:

As a strategy game, the zoom will always be at medium-far levels, so if you can't clearly identify some faces at medium zoom level (i.e the Medium Cannon turret should have about 1,5cm on your screen), there is no real need to have them.

The VTOL turrets are upside-down versions of the normal turrets (hmmm, maybe you could make different ones if you want to), so don't delete the bottom faces!

Cheap components are going to be in large numbers, those should have the lowest poly count of all

Your work is already good enough to join AR, so if you can make the possibly necessary adjustments, you're in!

Oh, and we are currently using more or less half of a 512x512 page for body models, so you can aim for that as well (probably making all cannon models' textures in a 512x512 page could be better for organization, if you can - counting the assault+HPV cannons).

In terms of proportions: It's more important in games for the important parts to be visible, than to have realistic proportions. In particular, the barrels should all be thicker here. The muzzle should also be circular. And what Olrox said, fewer polygons would probably be best. Hexagons for the barrels are usually enough.

Thank you Buginator and Olrox
And thanks also for the practical tips, I hadn't even thought about the VTOL cannon.
As I said I have a 256x256 texture and the polycounts are 112, 134 and 150 so no problem with that (although I may be able to lower the heavy cannon's polycunt a bit).
I have, however, no experience in exporting models but I hope you can use the .blend files directly?
Should I just post links in the forum or can I send them directly to you? (My friend hosts my images&stuff and I don't want to overuse his internet connection)
Oh and one more thing, I read somewhere that the .pie format has a quite limited coordinate precision, how many steps per ingame square (approximately)?

Jorzi wrote:Thank you Buginator and Olrox
And thanks also for the practical tips, I hadn't even thought about the VTOL cannon.
As I said I have a 256x256 texture and the polycounts are 112, 134 and 150 so no problem with that (although I may be able to lower the heavy cannon's polycunt a bit).
I have, however, no experience in exporting models but I hope you can use the .blend files directly?
Should I just post links in the forum or can I send them directly to you? (My friend hosts my images&stuff and I don't want to overuse his internet connection)
Oh and one more thing, I read somewhere that the .pie format has a quite limited coordinate precision, how many steps per ingame square (approximately)?

You can fit 128 points per tile length. It's like if you were limited to make you models based on connections between a 128x128x128 cube this isn't trouble, solving this is as simple as moving vertexes slightly, and it's ready to go. You can send them directly to me via e-mail (it is my MSN, you can access it in my profile), I can work in pretty much any format you send me. Conversion is indeed tricky in the beginning, but Mangust is already a pro at it

I'll PM you about the way we usually produce our models (not much of a big deal, just some general pointers that we usually follow)

Given your polycounts, and Mangust's approval via PM, you are welcome to join AR!

If you send me the .blend files I think I can produce some nice improved textures and maybe we can see those models in-game even today

In the PM I'll send you your own customized signature

Again, welcome to the forums, and welcome to the Art Revolution!

~Olrox

P.S.:

Zarel wrote:I'unno, ~100 seems a bit high for components... My primary concern is that I see detail that probably isn't very visible even at max zoom.

Yep, as I said, we are aiming for 100 +- 50 and preferrably less than 100. 150 is for the most detailed, unusual models, like, let's say, the heaviest bodies, probably plasma cannon, and VTOL props for the larger bodies as well.
I will take a look and see which polys can be removed without decreasing the quality too much.